Climate and average weather in Rabinal

In Rabinal, the weather is hot, wet, and partly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around September.

Best: early January to late March

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Rabinal typically varies from 14°C to 30°C, and is rarely below 11°C or above 33°C. April is the hottest month of the year, while December is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Rabinal for warm-weather activities are from early January to late March and early November to late December.

Hottest
Apr
30°
Coldest
Dec
14°
Wettest
Sep
167 mm
Driest
Feb
4 mm
Rain / yr
841 mm
135 wet days
Daylight
11.1–12.9 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
975 m
15.1°N
Clearest
Feb
39% cloud

Rabinal weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around early January to late March.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Rabinal, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

Temperatures in Rabinal stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is April, with an average high of 30°C and low of 16°C; the coolest is December, with an average low of 14°C and high of 25°C.

Days typically run about 12°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 14°C) in March.

10°15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2514
Feb2714
Mar2915
Apr3016
May2917
Jun2817
Jul2717
Aug2817
Sep2817
Oct2616
Nov2515
Dec2514

Average hourly temperature in Rabinal

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on April afternoons, near 30°C, and coldest before dawn in December, near 14°C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Rabinal weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan25° / 14°82.611.28.2
Feb27° / 14°41.311.58.0
Mar29° / 15°122.711.96.8
Apr30° / 16°31612.35.5
May29° / 17°9915.712.74.5
Jun28° / 17°14821.712.94.3
Jul27° / 17°8616.712.85.2
Aug28° / 17°10017.212.55.0
Sep28° / 17°16722.412.14.3
Oct26° / 16°13017.911.75.2
Nov25° / 15°457.811.37.1
Dec25° / 14°123.411.18.0

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Rabinal gets about 841 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 5.9 months, from around May 7 to Nov 3, peaking in September at about 77% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Feb 19.

September is the wettest month by volume, with 167 mm over about 22 wet days; February is the driest, with 4 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetSep 24 · 77%Feb 19 · 4%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan83
Feb51
Mar93
Apr216
May5016
Jun7022
Jul5517
Aug5617
Sep7322
Oct5818
Nov268
Dec123

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Rabinal collects about 841 mm of rain across 135 wet days — roughly 70 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. September is the wettest month with 167 mm, while February is the driest at just 4 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 53% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150175200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec84123199148861001671304512
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan83
Feb41
Mar123
Apr316
May9916
Jun14822
Jul8617
Aug10017
Sep16722
Oct13018
Nov458
Dec123

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Rabinal, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around November 13 and lasts for 5.6 months, ending around May 1. The clearest month is February, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 76% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around May 2 and lasts for 6.4 months, ending around November 12. The cloudiest month is June, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 86% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecFeb 24 · 78%Jun 16 · 13%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan6535
Feb7624
Mar7624
Apr6337
May2773
Jun1486
Jul2674
Aug2575
Sep1684
Oct2476
Nov4456
Dec6139

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around June 6, brings about 12 h 54 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 11 h 06 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.26:355:47
Feb11.56:326:01
Mar11.96:156:08
Apr12.35:526:12
May12.75:376:19
Jun12.95:366:29
Jul12.85:436:32
Aug12.55:516:21
Sep12.15:545:59
Oct11.75:575:37
Nov11.36:095:26
Dec11.16:255:31

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Rabinal averages about 7 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 1 and 17 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.2 months, from around Nov 20 to Apr 27. The sunniest month is February, with roughly 16 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is September, down near 1 sunny days — about 93% fewer than the February peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightFeb 2617 daysSep 231 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan13Mixed
Feb15Bright
Mar16Bright
Apr10Mixed
May3Gloomy
Jun1Gloomy
Jul3Gloomy
Aug3Gloomy
Sep1Gloomy
Oct2Gloomy
Nov6Gloomy
Dec11Mixed

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Rabinal, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 6.0 months, from around May 8 to November 7. The muggiest month is September, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 84% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around November 8 to May 7, and February is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 99% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecFeb 15 · 100%Sep 29 · 9%comfortablehumiddrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan544510
Feb584110
Mar494830
Apr2360160
May540532
Jun017794
Jul037621
Aug037621
Sep016812
Oct323713
Nov1654301
Dec326080

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Wind in Rabinal is steady company: average speeds sit near 5 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmMar 9 · 5 km/hSep 25 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb5calm
Mar5calm
Apr5calm
May4calm
Jun4calm
Jul4calm
Aug4calm
Sep4calm
Oct4calm
Nov5calm
Dec5calm

Hazard calendar for Rabinal

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Rabinal's rainy season runs May–October, when most of the year's rain falls.

Rainy season
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Rabinal

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Rabinal throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around mid March, Rabinal is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Rabinal for general outdoor tourist activities is from early November to late March, with a peak score in the second week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 11 · 8.2

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan8.2ideal
Feb8.0ideal
Mar6.8good
Apr5.5fair
May4.5fair
Jun4.3fair
Jul5.2fair
Aug5.0fair
Sep4.3fair
Oct5.2fair
Nov7.1good
Dec8.0ideal

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Rabinal for hot-weather activities is from late November to late April, with a peak score in the last week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 27 · 8.6

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Rabinal, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

Rabinal packs about the same all year — highs hold near 30°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In April, Rabinal sees daytime highs around 30°C and nights near 16°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 6 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Rabinal by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Rabinal peaks around April 11 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 14 at about 9 (very high).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highApr 11UV 14Dec 14UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan10Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar14Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun13Extreme
Jul13Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct12Extreme
Nov10Very high
Dec9Very high

Average hourly UV index in Rabinal

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in April the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6.5 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan75
Feb86
Mar86.5
Apr8.56.5
May8.56.5
Jun8.56.5
Jul8.56.5
Aug86.5
Sep86
Oct7.55.5
Nov75
Dec74.5

Air quality in Rabinal by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Rabinal is worst in April — around 48 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), about 2.2× the cleanest month (August, 22 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorModerateApr 1846 µg/m³Aug 1422 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan26Moderate
Feb26Moderate
Mar31Moderate
Apr48Poor
May37Poor
Jun25Moderate
Jul23Moderate
Aug22Moderate
Sep24Moderate
Oct23Moderate
Nov22Moderate
Dec24Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Rabinal is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Rabinal banks about 4,185 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around May.

01,0002,0003,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan294
Feb295
Mar364
Apr392
May406
Jun372
Jul371
Aug381
Sep363
Oct349
Nov303
Dec296

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Rabinal receives about 5.2 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.2 and 6.3 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 7.0 months, from around Feb 13 to Sep 13. The brightest month is April, averaging about 6.3 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is November, down near 4.2 kWh/m² — roughly 32% less than the April peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseApr 76.3 kWhNov 304.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.5Bright
Feb5.3Bright
Mar6.0Intense
Apr6.3Intense
May5.7Bright
Jun5.3Bright
Jul5.7Bright
Aug5.7Bright
Sep5.2Bright
Oct4.5Bright
Nov4.2Bright
Dec4.3Bright

Where is Rabinal?

Rabinal sits at 15.1°N, 90.5°W, 975 m above sea level, in Guatemala. The nearest listed city is Salamá, 19 km away.

San Cristóbal VerapazSan Pedro AyampucChinautlaSan Juan SacatepéquezCobánSanarateSan Pedro Carchá

Topography around Rabinal

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Rabinal.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Rabinal has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 583 m around an average of 1,041 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,659 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 3,908 m.

The land around Rabinal is covered by grassland (46%), trees (23%) and shrubs (22%) within 3 km, trees (48%), grassland (28%) and shrubs (22%) within 16 km, and trees (74%) within 80 km.

3 km
583 m
16 km
1,659 m
80 km
3,908 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaces
Nearby: Salamá 19 km · San Cristóbal Verapaz 31 km · San Pedro Ayampuc 34 km · Chinautla 43 km · San Juan Sacatepéquez 44 km · Cobán 45 km · Sanarate 46 km · San Pedro Carchá 48 km

Guatemala travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 3
Reconsider Travel
Power plugs
Type A / B
120 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 43% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$6,598
2025
Happiness
6.5 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
49%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
23.4
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
22.9
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
Moderate
EF EPI 510
Religion
Evangelical 46%Roman Catholic 42%none 11%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Rabinal (15.0853°, -90.4925°, elevation 975 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).